Godrej enters farm produce retailing with Nature's Basket

The Rs 4,000 crore Godrej group has finally forayed into food retailing. Group company Godrej Agrovet has launched Nature's Basket, which would sell fresh farm produce based on the concept of farm-to-plate. It has opened its first store in south Mumbai and plans to set up another 4-5 such stores in the city.

Says Tanya Dubash, director marketing, Godrej Industries, "We have worked in close association with farmers for over 35 years helping them develop their produce. We now feel that the time has come to introduce our consumers in the urban areas to this 100 per cent fresh farm produce."

The company has invested around Rs 1 crore on its first store and is planning to open another 4-5 stores in Mumbai by the end of 2005.

"Depending upon the consumer response and the success of Nature's Basket in Mumbai, we will then look at setting up in other metros, said CK Vaidya, managing director of Godrej Agrovet. Sprawled over an area of 2000 sq.ft, the store sells vegetables, fruits and herbs ""both local and exotic. Nature's Basket will also home deliver these products, a value-added service introduced by retail chains recently.

The Rs 800 crore Godrej Agrovet, the largest seller of animal feeds in India has a presence in poultry, oil palm plantation, agricultural inputs and plant biotechnology.

The company made a quiet foray into retailing through the launch of Godrej Aadhar, that provides end to end solutions to farmers. Presently there are 8 Aadhaar centres in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh. Plans are afoot to set up 100 Aadhaar centres across the country.

India is currently going through a major retailing wave. Though the retailing is at a nascent stage, it is currently growing at 15-20 per cent. If this growth is sustained, the share of organised retailing will rise to 6 to 10 per cent by the end of this decade.